Ideology

LOOKING FOR ERIC

Looking for Eric is a film that film 4 created about a man how has a mental disorder, whilst trying to look after a family that is easy influenced by drugs and crime. Eric works in a post office and has imaginary talks with a famous footballer. At the end of the movie he has a happy ending which is - and looks like it not a happy ending but in reality he would be happy. the representation of the characters in the movie is very realistic. however the young boys play a very stereotypical characters of young boys growing up in a run down area in Britain. The representation of the place where the movie is set is very british, Its a very lower class area that looks to be struggling by the mise en scene being very messy and dull. The representation of the area is real as that is how lower class areas do look like in Britain. The movie has a lot of british reference in it which are not very obvious, Eric works post office which is the british post delivery in Britain. They also use english football teams, in America they call football, soccer . They language in terms of accent and dialogue is very british. The movie deals with a reality in britian and how single parents struggle bring up children that are easy influnced by crime also known as economic hardship. Also Eric's happy ending is happy but not as happy as it would be in an hollywood film, its as happy as it can be in his situation. The film is not an escapist movie which film 4 are very well known for. Film 4 also don't allow the audience to escape everyday life and shows us how life is for somepeople. Film 4 have built a reputation for BSR films and kitchen sinks and this movie supports their ideology.

SUBMARINE 

Submarine is another film that film 4 have created, the boy falls in love with a girl. whilst he is trying to keep his parents together, he loses track of the relationship with the girl who eventually moves on. The characters in submarine are represented as typical teenagers who think they fall in love. The boy is kind of represented as a protagonist as he tries to save his parents and his relationship. Film 4 use a lot of british cultural reference such as the tape, british bands on the tape, school uniform, roads instead of street and the accents of the characters. The hints that its an film 4 film is the use of swear words, the setting and cliff hanger at the end, we don't see if they end up together its just suggested. Film 4 also use un-varnished pictures of real life's struggles when we see the kid trying to solve his parents problems and when he breaks into the house. Film 4 has a strong aim and ideology to promote new talent, submarine used un know actors which helps them fulfil there ideology. We see a working class boy at school trying to be a typical boy by seeing his everyday normal life. Film 4 don't leave out any boring parts they try ans show his life in a very realistic way. Film 4 also like to use new talent, which we see in submarine as they us un known actors. Film 4 have built a reputation for BSR films and kitchen sinks and this movie supports their ideology.

FOUR LIONS

Four lions is a film about the stereotypes of all muslims being terrorist, Film 4 took a huge risk with this movie as the situation is very serious and wouldn't appeal to an audience outside of the U.K. Some muslims many find the film offences because whilst its a comedy its still very bias to muslims and the idea of every muslim being a terrorist. The representation of the characters in four lions is very stereotypical. The representation of the places are very realistic as they show the reality of the areas that are in the movie. There is a lot of British cultural reference in four lions such as the road signs, song in the van and the accents and dialogue. Film 4 often allow swearing in the dialogue as through out most of film 4 we've heard language that we wouldn't expect. This backs up the idea of film 4 taking risk and showing the reality. Even though film 4 take the situation and turn it into a comedy they show the protagonist (the main character) as a hero at the end as he tries to stop it but couldn't. Film 4 like to deal with issues that hollywood don't, as a film 4 are known for British social realism movies.

INBETWEENERS MOVIE

The inbetweeners movie is based on a T.V program which was aired on Channel 4. This is known as a Cross Media Convergence, in this case Film 4 used the TV program inbetweeners to create a movie but they are both owned by the same people. They are both produced and distrubted by the same people. The characters are represented as different type of typical school boy. The places are very realistic in respect to the narrative. The use of the school uniform is very british. The movie is a very safe idea for film 4, this movie would granty film 4 a good profit as it already has a wide range of mainstream audience through channel 4. The inbetweener was released on DVD which is new for film 4 as they don't have the money to release their films on DVD.


ATTACK THE BLOCK

Attack the block is a film about aliens attacking an estate building in england. The characters are represented very realistic in respect to the area they live in, in the story. The use of an estate is very British and the dialogue of the characters. We know its a common film 4 film becasue we see a realistic area which realistic characters. The area they live in is a very real situation people face in the uk. Also the film is very un-varshied and there are many hand held shots. We also hear people using language you wouldn't expect in a hollywood movie. This movie is a risk in my eyes for film 4 because it deals with an unrealistic situation as well as dealing with realistic situation. Aliens attacking an estate in the uk is very unlikely. Attack the block deal with a situation not in the same conspect but the overall idea that some people who live in estates have to deal with everyday which film 4 try and portray in as many films as they can.

Evaluation

Evaluation

This was short exercise to help us understand continuity in a film; we had to work in groups to make a short continuity film. I worked with Chanel Medi and Hardeep Pansera, I joined the group late so I missed the pre-production section but caught up and helped with the production side a lot.

We broke the 180 degree rule as I walked from left to right but when I sat down I was right side and Hardeep was on the left which confuses the audience because we swapped sides all of a sudden. So to prevent us from re filming because I had little time left, I added a shot of a clock to show that I was late for school.

Shot reverse shot allows us to show the reaction of two different people whilst they are having a conversation. We used shot reverse shot when I reveal to her friend she is pregnant to create more tension, it also allowed us to show someone’s face whilst they were talking. 

We used the rule of thirds; this is when the audience keep their eyes on the horizontal line. The rule of thirds allows you to create more visually interesting images, because it interacts the audience’s brain. Makes the shot more interesting for the audience because there’s so much space on one side of the shot.

Match on action shot is me walking to the door then opening it from the outside but then me opening the door from the inside the last place you saw me on the outside. Someone opening the door from two different view however when I opened from the outside I had to remember where I stop because I had to open it when filming inside at the same point. This is because we want the audience to think it was filmed at the same time with two different cameras (flow). 

When filming our shots we didn't really face any big problems however I did find it hard getting the match on action shot perfect. Also I felt that I didn't have enough time to film scene that I fought off after Chanels and Hardeeps scene because I entered the group late. If I was to film again I would have helped film the scenes more and also watched the film after we filmed it before moving on. We didn't watch what we filmed after filming it, so we were unaware if it was a good shot or not. 

During in post production I realized that my work didn't flow as I thought it should have and I also realized that we broke the 180 degree rule. I had to use the new I movie which was a challenge as I only knew how to work the old one. I also found that cutting shots together to get them perfect eg match on action was harder because they had to perfect for it to look real to the audience. 

My strengths of creativity were that the situation we applied can be applied to real life. An audience of young girls can relate to the story line as young pregnancy is a problem for our generation. I also think that I used I movie well as it was the new version which I never used before. I also learnt how to use different features of I movie as well as the Mac by exporting my movie to YouTube. When Editing I felt that I made the transitions of shot flow more after a while and I believe that the pace of my film was steady the hole way though, the speed didn't slow down or speed up at any time. Using the camera new camera was also strength as I haven't used that camera to film anything like this before, it challenged me which was a good experience to learn. Strength of the planning was the location and actress’s because the location was right if the main character was a young girl still in school also we had two young actors to make it more real.

The weakness of our creativity was that it was a hard subject to work within a short time because it was a serious subject. A weakness of my planning and research was that I didn't really have an input in the planning or research because I joined late. This affected my work because I didn't understand what was happening. I felt with post production my weakness was time, I felt I don’t give myself enough time to edit and the flow of my film was a little of at some parts. I didn't know how to add music to my work which was the weakness of the digital technology. My overall weakness of the project was time as I lacked time in post production as well as film because I had to re film some scenes.

Overall I think we could have improved on the shots, they could have flowed better together. As well as allowing time to re film as after post production we all released that we had to re film. If I re did the project I would definitely be involved in the pre production so I know what shots we need to make the work flow and have a better pace. I would use sound more in my work, I felt I lacked sound in my work because I didn't know how to use sound in I Movie.

Continuity Exercise

Continuity editing exercise

 

We were asked to work in groups of 2-3 in pre-production then edit it ourselves. We had to create a storyboard, stage, film and edit however i only got to film because I joined the group late. We had to show a character opening a door, cross a room and sit down in a chair opposite another character and exchange a couple of lines of dialogue, using key media language skills to do so.

We had to try and include key media language skills such as the rule of third, match on action, 180 degree and shot reverse shot.

Rule of thirds is a filming and photography technique, where is a shot is composed along imaginary lines which divide the image into three sections. This skill is also known as 'Golden mean'. Your eyes are mainly on the horizontal lines (eye line match). 

Next is match on action shot, this is an editing technique for continuity editing in which the same thing is happening in both shots. This creates a visual bridge which draws the viewers’ attention from the slight cutting. This shot also helps the viewer slowly understand what’s happening in the shot. It is also a cut between two shots to show a strong relationship eg open door then another shot from inside the room opening the door.



Shot reverse shot is a technique that is used to show characters looking at each other. This technique is mainly used with an over the shoulder shot, and then followed by a reverse angle shot of the character themselves looking at the other character.

180 degree is when two characters always have the same left and right relationship to each other. This refers to keeping the camera position within a field of 180°.When cutting from the green arc to the red arc, the characters switch places on the screen.

I worked with Chanel Medi and Hardeep Panesar, however i joined the group late so i didn't get to plan any work with them but i did look at the storyboard and got to help shoot some shots. Even though i joined the group late i liked the group i was in because they involved me and helped me get up to date. Our group got most of the filming done quickly which was good. This grouping was successful as we didn't have any problems and we had fun filming.

I wasn't part of the group when they added the scenario to make the task more creative but i really like the idea because it’s a topic that people can relate to now days. They decided to make the person who walks in the room pregnant. The storyline is a about girl arriving late for school because she’s was taking a pregnancy test, Then she has to reveal to her friend that she is pregnant.

The storyboard that Chanel Medi and Hardeep Panesar created was very useful to me as i came into the group late, so the storyboard helped me see what the idea of our task was. We stuck with the storyboard because the shots and scenes made sense the way they were and also we had enough time to film the scenes. 

If i was in the group at the beginning  i would have had a different scenario as i think other topics would have challenged my group more. Also i would have liked to film my own shots using my own ideas because I am used to doing my work by myself. I probably would have also created my own storyboard but overall i think my group was good. 

My continuity exercise